Etymology

Probably continuing OE forgifan, forgiefan, forgyfan 'give, grant, allow; forgive, overlook', however the absence of palatalization of /g/ (evident from the alliteration of both lines in Pat, as McGee 429 notes) suggests some input from the ON v. represented by OIcel gefa ‘to give’: see gif (v.).

PGmc Ancestor

*geƀan-

Proposed ON Etymon (OIcel representative)

gefa 'to give', cp. fyr-gefa, fyrir-gefa 'forgive'
(ONP gefa (vb.); cp. fyrir-gefa (vb.), fyrgefa (vb.))

Other Scandinavian Reflexes

Far geva, Icel gefa, Norw giva, Dan runic gaf (past sg.), giƀu (pres. 1st sg.), Dan give, Sw giva

OE Cognate

OE forgifan, forgiefan, forgyfan 'give, grant, allow; forgive, overlook'

Phonological and morphological markers

absence of palatalization of */ɡ/

Summary category

A1*c

Attestation

Forms of the v. with unambiguous initial velar occur mainly in the N in ME; see further gif (v.).

Occurrences in the Gersum Corpus

Cl 731; Pat 404, 407; WA 2434

Bibliography

MED foryēven (v.) , OED forgive (v.) , HTOED , DOE forgyfan; see further gif (v.).